José Pizarro’s cherry gazpacho recipe

“Many customers and friends are surprised when they learn that gazpacho can be made with such a variety of things,” says José Pizarro – meaning it’s not just about classic tomato.

Gazpacho is essentially a cold soup that can be smooth or textured, thin or thick. “Here, I’m making it with cherries because I grew up with some of the best cherries in the world. They are a remarkably high-quality product of Jerte, just north of my home village in Spain.”

Cherry gazpacho

Ingredients
(Serves 4, takes 20 minutes plus 2 hours marinating)

For the gazpacho:
1tbsp olive oil
1 slice of stale white sourdough
2 garlic cloves, sliced
1 red pepper, deseeded and chopped
500g ripe red cherries, stoned
1/2 cucumber, peeled and diced
300ml tomato juice
2tbsp sherry vinegar
4tbsp extra virgin olive oil, plus 2tbsp to emulsify

For the toppings:
2tbsp olive oil
1 thick slice of stale white sourdough, cut into small cubes
1 thyme sprig, leaves picked
1/2 small red onion, very finely chopped
50g goat’s cheese, crumbled
1/4 cucumber, peeled and finely diced
A handful of fresh basil leaves
Extra virgin olive oil, for drizzling
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Method

1. For the soup, heat the olive oil in a frying pan over a medium-high heat and fry the bread on both sides until golden.

2. Put the fried bread into a bowl with the rest of the gazpacho ingredients (except for the two tablespoons of oil) and allow to sit for a couple of hours.

3. For the topping, heat a little of the oil in a frying pan over a medium-high heat. Add the cubes of bread and the thyme and fry until you have golden croutons. Drain on a plate lined with paper towels and season.

4. Blitz the soup really well with a hand-held blender, then push it through a coarse sieve into a jug. Whisk in the two tablespoons extra virgin olive oil. Pour into four bowls and top with all the toppings, along with a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil.

Tip: You can can roast the peppers if you’d like the soup to have a softer flavour.

The Spanish Home Kitchen: Simple, Seasonal Recipes And Memories From My Home by José Pizarro is published by Hardie Grant, priced £27. Photography by Emma Lee. Available now.